Authorities investigating a police chase that began in Palmer Township early Friday morning and ended in Easton with the driver dying after being shot by police have ruled the shooting justified.

Authorities investigating a police chase that began in Palmer Township early Friday morning and ended in Easton with the driver dying after being shot by police have ruled the shooting justified. (APRIL BARTHOLOMEW / THE MORNING CALL)

A veteran Easton police officer who fatally shot a man after a chase was justified in using deadly force because Richard Scheuermann III was endangering officers' "lives and the lives of others," the Pennsylvania attorney general's office announced Friday.

The officer, identified publicly for the first time as Sgt. Dominick Marraccini, will face no criminal charges in Scheuermann's Oct. 24 death after a pursuit that began in Palmer Township when police tried to pull him over for driving on the wrong side of the road.

Scheuermann, 39, was shot during a confrontation when he crashed his truck into a pole on North 13th Street in Easton after a 22-minute chase through several communities. Scheuermann was shot twice and had a self-inflicted knife wound to his throat, although an autopsy concluded a bullet was the primary cause of death.

Marraccini joined the department in 1998 and remains on administrative duty until an internal investigation is complete, Easton police Chief Carl Scalzo said.

Scalzo's statement said his department "had not yet had the opportunity" to view the information gathered by state police or the attorney general's office during the investigation.

"This incident is indicative of the difficult tasks that the men and women involved in law enforcement encounter on a daily basis across the country," said the release from Scalzo. "It represents how an officer can be called to make split–second, life-altering decisions in the protection of his/her life and the lives of others."

Scheuermann's sister, Liza Scheuermann, said Friday that she hoped that "something good" could come out of her brother's killing and "change some things around so this never happens again."

Scheuermann referred all other comments to the family's attorney, Joshua Karoly, who said the family is "disappointed" at the ruling as they continue to grieve and search for answers.

Karoly said the pursuit is a "rare instance" when the entire incident was recorded by police dashboard cameras.

"They are hopeful they will be able to view the tapes and come to their own conclusions," Karoly said.

The review concluded that Easton police were justified in the use of force after Scheuermann had led police on a "high-speed chase" and tried to use his vehicle "as a weapon against the officers, repeatedly endangering their lives and the lives of others," the attorney general's release says.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane said her office reviewed multiple video and audio recordings that provided a "clear and unbiased account of what took place that night."

"Mr. Scheuermann's actions caused law enforcement officers to believe that lives were in danger," the statement reads. "Though the use of deadly force is regrettable in any circumstance, it was justifiable ..."

Authorities said the recordings show Scheuermann's truck ran several stop signs and red lights, drove in the wrong lane, drove the wrong way down one-way streets, across the lawn of Easton Area High School and "intentionally" swerved toward a pedestrian and two police cars before crashing, the statement reads.

"Scheuermann ignored repeated orders from police to exit the truck, and instead intentionally and repeatedly rammed a police vehicle with the truck, which then became partially lodged on the utility pole," the statement reads.

After Marraccini fired shots at Scheuermann, authorities said Scheuermann remained in his truck and "continued to ignore" police commands before stabbing himself with a pocket knife, authorities said.

The attorney general's office assumed jurisdiction of the case after a referral from Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, who declined to comment Friday.

Marraccini was one of several Easton police officers cleared in 2007 by a federal jury of using excessive force in the shooting of a man during an armed standoff. In 2002, Michael Hogan came up from the basement of his South Side home carrying a rifle and was shot several times and wounded.